Built up world of magic, your real life is tragic
by baixblackbird
Summary: After Hatter goes back to her world, he must go back to Wonderland. While he's gone, Alice finds out something about him. Hatter has been keeping a huge secret, and it was only a matter of time before it was reveled. Alice/Hatter.
1. Out with the truth

**A/N: Okay, so. I really wanted to do a Hatter/Alice fan fiction, and I was having a difficult time thinking up a storyline. I was going to do AU, but I really like the whole Wonderland, and Hatter being Hatter and all of this, so I decided to just keep going with that.  
I realize this starting chapter isn't very long, and it probably has some mistakes in it. Forgive me. I've been running on no sleep for the last three days and when I got inspiration for this, I need to write and I'm so eager to get this posted. So, again forgive me for any mistakes, but I hope you enjoy. I think this story could be something, and I'm really excited to get some feedback.**  
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Everything seemed spectacular right now. The happiness I felt once I held Alice in my arms again was unbelievable. I felt relief, and like a million pounds was lifted off my shoulders. Being away from her was not something I was good at. To think that I was doing just ordinary, running the tea house and going about my life when she showed up and it's like she flipped my world upside down, as if it needed it. Wonderland was enough flipping for an eternity. I hate to say this, but I'm glad Jack wasn't real about wanting to be with her. I was still angry beyond belief he was two timing her, and she kept denying, but I'm glad I had her. She was all I was looking for to make my life mean something again. Being in Wonderland, seeing the world fall apart underneath the Queen was like a knife in my heart. All those refugees, and when I saw the kingdom of the knights when we followed Charlie through the woods, it made my heart clench. These were my people that were let down, and if I didn't do something, then everything would've been completely destroyed. Even now, it hurt to think about it. I left Wonderland at a very poor state. It had to build itself back up and I wasn't there to help, and I would have to tell Alice I had to go back at some point. My time in Wonderland wasn't up. Not even close. Thanks to the time difference, if I were to go and fight for a week, then it would only be about an hour for Alice. Talk about long distance not working.

I had spent about a week in Alice's world. We did so much together. Once of the first things was we ordered about a dozen pizzas, sat up her living room and just started to watch old black and whites movies such as 'The heiress', and classics like Wizard of Oz, Meet me in St. Louis. I suppose she had a slight obsession with Judy Garland? She was a very beautiful woman when she was younger. We cuddled, ate popcorn. We just spent a week talking about each other, and Wonderland and what happened there, and we even read 'Alice's adventures in wonderland' together. She laughed at how different the two were, and I just enjoyed and embraced her smile. I couldn't imagine not seeing that smile every day. How could I have lived so long without her? I didn't know there were girls out there like here, especially not in this world. It was a shock to me.

Today, we were sitting on the couch together, feet propped up on the coffee table, bag of popcorn on the table, along with empty soda cans and water bottles and pizza boxes. On the television was the 1957 version of Alice in wonderland. She was really intrigued by everything that had to do with wonderland. This movie made it look so… easy. At one point, it was like this, but not now. It was no longer a kid's story, it was real. It was not something to be messed with. So, I got up the courage to look down at Alice, pull her closer and say, "Alice, I have to go back." Her big, blue eyes looked up at me immediately and it made my heart break. Pain laced her iris' and I could tell she was heartbroken about what I had just said.

"Wh-what do you mean you have to go back? You don't have to go back, Hatter." Her fingers grasped onto my jacket, as an effort to keep me from going. That just broke me even more. She started shaking her head, probably unconsciously. Maybe, this was how men felt when they said they were leaving, but I wasn't leaving for good. I wasn't leaving her. I would never, but I had to go back and fight. "You have to understand, I left Wonderland with no work filled. I left without any promise of going back. It's my home, Alice. I can't just abandon it now." As I spoke, I tried to keep myself under control when I looked at her. She looked so paralyzed, like she couldn't move. Her eyes never blinked, but only got wider, and as grasp on her jacket grew tighter, and now she just wasn't trying to stop me and make me stay on the couch, she was clinging onto me like her life depended on it. I never thought she would act this way before. After explaining to her I wasn't going to leave forever, and that I wouldn't get stuck there, she managed to calm herself down. I was to stay there a week, one hour in her case. She didn't think it would be too bad going an hour without me, so I got dressed back in my regular clothes. The clothes I wore the whole time we were there together. After putting on my hat and making sure I had everything I needed, we said our goodbyes and I found the looking glass luckily and went back through.

While I was falling, my thoughts just lingered to Alice, and how much I would miss her. No more Judy Garland, no more pizza, no more cuddling coiled up on the couch and just talking. I had to get serious real quick, now. Charlie would most likely be waiting for me when I got back. We had a lot to do, and we needed to help those people in the great library. All that I was glad about was Mad March was gone again, thanks to my helpful right hand. Or Sledgehammer as Owl liked to put it. I completely forgot about Owl and Duck. Finally, after what seemed like days and days, I fell through the looking glass, tumbling down the stairs and rolling right in front of Charlies feet. I looked up at him, laughing loudly as he helped me up. "Charlie! Never a dull moment when seeing you." I hugged him realizing how much I did miss him. He was still mad as a box of frogs, but he was still fun to be around.

The next week, Charlie and I started to clean up the kingdom of knights. We made proper graves for all the knights that had passed and it was time to move on. We got a few refugees out of the great library and into buildings here. I had a woman watch over them and Charlie started to gather knew armor for volunteers that would fight with us. At night, when everyone was asleep, I would tell Charlie about Alice's world, and how different it was. I told him what we did, and how she told me to tell him she missed him and hoped he would come through the looking glass and visit sometime. He laughed and agreed to come sometime, but not until he had won this battle. It would take some time, but I knew he'd get through it all, with my help and the help of everyone else, we could do this. Wonderland could a home again, and maybe once it was back to the way it used to be, then Alice would consider coming back. For good. My heart still ached when I thought about it here, when I was in her world. I realized how much I loved it.

"Well, Judy Garland died, but there's always her daughter Liza." I nudged him, laughing lightly. He looked over at me with an annoyed looked, so my laughing died out and I looked away slowly, back into the fire.

The moment I heard a crow croak, I snapped my neck to look behind me, and I saw that all the perimeters were broken through. I quickly grabbed my gun I had laid on the ground in front of me and started to walk towards the buildings where the people were. They looked at me, then at each other in pain. "Okay, everyone get their weapons! Armor, whatever you need! I need four groups. East, west, north, and south. All the perimeters were broken through which means were being attacked from every side. Hide in the bushes, behind trees. I know it's dark, it's night. That's why they're getting us now. OI! Get up!" Men started to put on armor, and hiding the woman in small trap doors and in the walls to make sure they wouldn't be spotted. When I saw how they were protecting them, I thought of Alice and how I was so glad she didn't come here. Without another though, I ran into the woods, hiding behind trees every now and again to make sure no once saw me. I was able to run pretty far up until I got to a sort of open field after walking up a hill. It was the same place me and Alice were when I came back from sending out help. She told me she was beginning to think I wasn't coming back.

I heard a loud gunshot, and it didn't register in my mind it was so close. I turned my head slowly and I saw a suit standing there, his gun aimed at me. It took me even longer to look at my body and I saw crimson soaking my pant leg. I exhaled, trying to not think about the pain that was beginning to set in. Instead, I looked back up, aimed the gun and fired at the man. I hit him dead on in the chest and he fell over, obviously dead. I dropped down, ripping my pent leg and seeing blood starting to gush out of my calf. With a deep breath, I put my hand over it, making sure I didn't bleed to death. Luckily, I heard more footsteps coming from the kingdom, so someone could help me. Once my eyes focused on gray hair and that all too familiar beard, I felt relief. Charlie gasped and ran over to me. "Good God, man!" I sighed lightly as he ripped a piece of cloth of his clothing and wrapped it around my wound. I hated being so vulnerable, so right for the picking. Charlie then picked me up on the horse he had tied up on a tree, in case of emergencies and got on behind me so I wouldn't fall off.

In a matter of minutes, we were back at the kingdom and I was on the horse, in a building getting treated by a doctor. He gave me some medicine to ease the pain, and I laid there while he pulled the bullet out. I screamed loudly, hearing it echo down the halls. The pain was so excruciating. I gripped the cement underneath me, trying to forget the pain and think of the wicked witch of the west melting and how Dorothy said she didn't mean to do so. Nothing worked. The pain kept climbing up my leg and engulfing me. I felt like I was drowning and my legs and wrists were tied, so I couldn't swim. Then, suddenly, the rope disappeared; no longer binding me and I swam to the surface. I took a huge breath, my chest heaving and sweat dripping down my face. Charlie was real sentimental when he wanted to be. He sat there the whole time, watching over me. I could tell he had felt terrible, watching me suffer and not having any way of helping me. The bullet was out, and my wound was stitched up, that's all that mattered. My week was up tomorrow, and I would be heading back home to Alice. I hope I can hide this from her, but the obvious limp I would have would give it away.

So, the invaders were scared off, and many of the men had killed some of the suits and brought he bodies back here to learn if they had any papers or anything that would help us better understand their plan. I slept that night, not like a baby, though. Tossing and turning from the pain, waking dead in the middle of the night from nightmares. This had to be one of the worst nights. Why couldn't he have shot at my chest where I at least had armor underneath? If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.

Finally morning broke, and the sound of Charlie's snore awoke me from my deep sleep. All I wanted to do was sleep. I was so exhausted, and the pain made it even worse. I could barely even move my leg, much less stand on it. "Charlie!" I yelled softly over to him. He was sleeping peacefully in his hammock, cuddling a small teddy bear in his arms. After hearing me yell, he quickly flipped out of the position and fell to the ground quickly getting up and saluting. I furrowed my brows, but shook my head and stood up slowly, using a log to help balance, then a tree. After riding Guinevere for an hour or two, we finally made it to the looking glass, and I was face to face with myself. I looked a little beat up, and my leg was hidden by a new pair of trousers I had put on earlier. After putting on my hat, I shifted my eyes back to Charlie's reflection in the mirror. "Keep it safe for me while I'm gone?" He nodded, knowing I was talking about Wonderland.

With a huge breath and my eyes shut, I stepped through the looking glass, making sure I held m hat on my head so it wouldn't fly off. Again, I thought about Alice the whole time, and how she would be. She couldn't have changed much since it's only been an hour her time. When I fell through the other side, I evidently landed on my leg and I held in a yelp if pain as my hands instantly flew to my calf. After about ten minutes lying there in agony, I was able to get myself up on my feet and limp through the alley way and get to her building. Slowly, I took one step at a time, teaching one floor, then the next, then the next. It was progress. I was one step closer to holding Alice again. Finally, I was in front of her door, and I stood as straight as I possibly could, well… straight as I possibly could without having pain written all over my face. I knocked a few times and waited, dusting off my clothes and deciding to just lean my arm on the wall as I waited for her to answer.

I heard rustling and rambling and then the door finally flew open. Her presence caught m by surprise. Her hair was jumbled up into a messy tie and anger was written all over her face. What could I have done wrong? I was only there for an hour her time, just as I said I'd be. She grabbed my wrist and pulled me in, slamming the door and pushing me up against the shut door and started to claw at my clothing. I tried to grab her wrists from my shirt, but by the time I finally caught then, it was too late. I knew exactly what she had been looking for, and her eyes were glued to my chest like a deer in headlights. My chest was filled with air, I didn't have the bravery to breathe right now. Her saddened, blue eyes looked straight up to mine, tears welling up in them. That pain in my leg just seemed to go away, but it went straight to my heart, and I'm sure hers was smashed completely.

"You son of a bitch."


	2. From one world, to another

**A/N: I hate writing fan fictions so much, because I also get to chapter two then I stop. I had that feeling again while writing this. I've no idea why I feel this way, but it sucks. I need some reassurance that I should keep writing this, because so far I'm a little iffy about the whole thing.  
So, read this, review and tell me if I should keep going.**  
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Alice and I stood in her apartment, he holding me again the door, and me just frozen in my spot. Even if she did back off, I wouldn't be able to move. This wasn't the exact welcome home party I thought I would be having with her. I shouldn't have left her alone or maybe one who suggest I shouldn't have lied to her. The hurt in her eyes could've killed me. When I looked into them, the pain of getting shot in my leg seemed like just a pinch. This man washed over me in a huge wave, and I knew I couldn't get out of this once like I did my leg. Her fingers ran over one certain spot on my chest. I wasn't an idiot; I knew what she had found out. The only thing is, I don't know how much information about it she had in her mind. I couldn't lie to her now, because if she knew the truth, and I lied about it, I would lose her for sure. "You... you lied to me!" Her voice cracked as she backed away, and her hand went right to my cheek, which made it sting immediately. I deserved that. I looked back up at her, having my head hang there. Tears flowed from her eyes and cascaded down her cheek. With a deep breath, I buttoned back uo shirst, hiding the blue-ish green oyster tattoo the right side of my chest. "How much did you find out?" I asked softly, leaning against the door and finally looking up at her completely without looking through my hair, or my eye lashes, or just taking mere glances at her.

She exhaled fast, her brows furrowing. "How much do I know?! I know you're sure as hell not who you say you are!" I thought I could handle looking at her at least, but once she said that I had to look away quickly and look out the window. Rain started to fall down, soft at first and it got more severe and it started to pour. "You're an oyster as much as I am. You lied about everything! Those aren't your people, so why do you want to help them?!" When I didn't answer, she stomped up to me, and I expected another slap in the face, but instead she grasped my wrist and pulled me out of the living and into her room, where she pushed me down in her chair, pointed to a computer screen and looked at me. "Read it." After looking up at her for a moment, I turned and look at the screen and started to read. It was on a news page, and the headline stated, "Cold case re-opened of missing child." I read the article, and then looked down when I was finished. Now it was no doubt she had linked this back to me. There was even a damn picture. I looked the same then as I was now. "You weren't born there. You're my world, and don't think you're one of them, you're not!"

That's where I lost it, I kicked the chair over as I stood up, looking down at her with fury. "I am as much of them as you are to this world. You can't judge me. Sure, it's on the internet, is that what you're going to believe?!" I was surprised by the tone of my voice. It echoed throughout the whole apartment. I didn't mean to get so angry with her, but it was impossible not to.

"No, you're not!" She pointed to the computer screen. "That's you! They even have your picture and you look exactly now as you did then, so shut up! You're an oyster just as much as me. How did YOU break out of the scarab? Huh?! You know people who like to help my kind? Oh, yeah? They helped you!" I had to restrain myself from going off on her again. My heart started to ache, so I looked back down, trying to think what to say to her. I had nothing, so with one more look at her, I walked out of her room and towards the front door. I heard her follow me, and then came more yelling. "Where do you think you're going?! You're not leaving until you tell me what happened to you!" I stopped walking and turned around, causing her to stop walking and yelling at me. I looked at her, thinking about everything she was saying. She had no idea what she was talking about. For all she knew that could've been some fake thing someone from wonderland planted here to turn her against me. Silence took over for a few minutes, and we just stood there looking at each other; having a silent conversation. She couldn't understand what she was putting me through. "Tell me!" She finally broke the silence.

I laughed lightly, shook my head and walked over to the door. "I'd rather watch wonderland burn down to nothing before I tell you anything." I opened the door, walked out and slammed the door behind me. I didn't lnger next to the door and I didn't hesitate to walk over to the stairs and run down them. My leg was no longer in pain, probably because I had all this on my mind now. I walked behind the building where the looking glass was, but I circled the area for a little while, trying to think what to do. "Ugh!" I took my right hand and smashed it head-on into the brick building, causing the brick to crumble to the ground. This was ridiculous. With not another look back at the building, and ran into the looking glass, feeling myself immediately falling. I came out the other end faster than I did last time, and I again rolled down the stairs and onto the floor. I didn't have the strength to get up right now, but when I opened my eyes, who I saw above me was just a reminder that I wouldn't have to be standing for much anymore. About six suits were circling around me, and before I could even try to get away, they grabbed my ankles and wrists and started to carry me away. Honestly, I couldn't find it in me to care anymore. So what if they kill me? At least Alice wouldn't have to worry about me being there, or here for that matter.

It was about a half hour before we finally came to a building, and when they walked inside with me, I saw suits everywhere, and I couldn't help but keep my heart from racing. I was leading an attack on them with Charlie, and now I was taken by them. They wouldn't kill me quickly, I knew that. What a shame, too. If I was going to die, I didn't want to suffer before it. They took me into an all gray room, and there was one single chair in the middle, reminding of with me and Mad March came face to face. They tied me down just as they had done, and left me there alone. I sat there with my head hung, thinking about Alice. Sure, I didn't reveal a lot about my past, but she couldn't just go around making assumptions. Before they left, they had taken my leather jacket, and my hat; same as I was last tied up like this. I was completely taken down. Everything was off, and I wasn't useful anymore. I was nothing now. A few hours passed as I just kept staring at the ground or the burns on my wrists that were being caused by the rope that was binding me to it. When I closed my eyes, I saw her face, I felt her skin against mine, I felt her hugging me to her. That's what I hoped to come back to when I went back there, but it was the exact opposite. Even though I knew I should be frustrated and angry with her, I felt nothing along those lines. I still wanted her, even after her making assumptions.

My thoughts were tucked away safely of her as I heard the door open and I saw Charlie. A smile instantly took over my lips and I felt hope again. Now I felt like kicking some suit's asses. We ran over to me and untied me, handing me my jacket, my hat, and a gun. I laughed slightly, putting my hat and jacket on, and then walking with him over to the door. We peeked out, seeing suits passing everywhere. "Don't believe your eyes when you see all those suits." I looked back at him and it took me a minute to catch on to what he said. I looked back out and recognized some faces. Faces of the volunteers that volunteered to fight against these guys. I felt like I was on top of the world now, and I would worry about the whole Alice situation after we escaped these guys. When I looked over at Charlie, he was holding a gun facing him. My eyes widened as I quickly took the gun and switched it around. It was hilarious enough to see him handle a gun, but handling it wrong was too priceless for my own good to see. We looked at each other and then took a step out of the room and started firing our guns. He suits went everywhere, behind walls and pillars and shots were being fired everywhere. I quickly ran into a room, shooting the suits that were held up in the there. Luckily none of them has weapons with them, so I was in no danger there. When I walked out of the room, I felt a gun press against the back of my head. "Did you think you'd get away so easily?"

My eyes went wide as I heard the voice and I quickly turned around to see Alice dressed up in a suit and a wig. I didn't know what to think, I half expected her to pull the trigger, but instead she grabbed my arm and pulled me into a room, taking my gun away and loading it back up, then throwing it back to me. She said nothing to me as she did that, and she peeked back out, as I did too. Charlie and all the other men had the suits under control. We came out, walking in the middle of the huge room and looked at Charlie. Before any of us could say anything, the door large double doors in the back of the room opened up and tons of suits flooded it. I paused, then said, "Okaay... time to go." And we all booked it. We ran out, me being first followed by Alice and Charlie then all of our other men.

Once we had lost the suits, we made our way back to the kingdom of knights where all of our men went back into the buildings to make sure the women were okay. I left Alice and Charlie and started to make a fire by myself in a small corner of one of the patches of land. Right now, I didn't want to talk to Alice about this. In fact, I didn't want her here at all right now. This was my fight, not hers. It had been a couple hours since we had all gotten back, and I laying in front of my fire, feeling the heart burn the right side of my body. It felt good, though. I just wanted to lay here for the rest of my life and feel that warmth. But the left side of me was cold, and alone. That wasn't good because it just reminded me of Alice. I tilted my head a bit, seeing another fire a little ways away and Charlie and Alice sitting by it. She was picking up little pebbles by her feet and throwing them into the fire, while Charlie was probably rambling on about something that made no sense at all. I laughed lightly as I remember when we first met him in the woods after she made the jabberwock chase her through the woods. I looked away quickly not thinking I could look any longer. I closed my eyes and tried to block her out, but it was no use, then I suddenly heard sticks and leaves rustling and I quickly grabbed my gun next to me and got to my feet and aimed, but I quickly lowered my gun when I saw it was Alice.

"You can't do that, Alice. I could've killed you." I said lightly as I sat back down the next to the fire and setting my gun next to me.

"I'm sorry." She whispered softly. I heard her walk to the opposite side of the fair, but I was too afraid to even look and see what she was doing. Not so much as I was afraid, I just didn't want to face the music, so to speak. "I read the article again. It said you were taken when you were seventeen. Six years later… I did the math with wonderland time and I added it up to be one hundred and forty-four. You're over two hundred years old." I shifted my eyes up to her when she was finished speaking. With a deep breath, I spoke. "You're wrong Alice. I'm not an oyster. I was born here." She looked at me, and I could tell she was trying to be cool about this whole thing and not yet. "Then why do you have that?" She gestured to my chest.

"I have that because…"

"Because?"

I paused, looking down at my hands as I nipped at the rim of my hat. "Because my parents were oysters, and owl and duck helped them escape and live in secret. When I was born, they found out and they were murdered. They couldn't kill me, since I was born in wonderland, so it wasn't my fault."

I saw her eyes soften and she looked away. I could see a single tear run down her cheek, and I felt like I had just broken her completely. "Owl and Duck… they're the closest thing you have to family." It wasn't a question, it was a statement, and a true one at that. Owl and Duck were the closest thing I had to a family. Other than them, I had no one."I'm so sorry, Hatter." I shook my head, waving off her apology. She didn't have to do that. She was making me feel horrible enough.

"Will you come back?" She asked.

I took a moment to think about this. Would I go back to her world with her? Wonderland was still my home. My heart ached when I thought about leaving, but my heart also ached when I thought about losing Alice.

"No."


	3. One man left behind

**Okay, before you read this, I have a little explanation.  
I don't read over this, partially because it's too long, and frankly, I'm lazy. I'm not saying I don't care about this fanfic, I'm just saying I am a very lazy person. So, I apologize for anything that might be confusing or misspelled. We all make mistakes. ALSO, Go me for making it to chapter 3 on a fan fiction for once!**  
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After I denied her request to come home, she went silent and just looked at the fire, as did I. Silence was the best thing right now. I loved her; there was no doubt about that. There was no doubt she felt the same way for me, or did anyway. I might've ruined that with lying. But I look back on it, and I never lied. I never told her my parents were oysters. It didn't seem like it mattered, but apparently it did. My heart ached at the thought of seeing her go through the looking glass without me once again. "Can you explain how you got the tattoo?"

I paused for a moment, and then nodded. "Well, I was able to steer clear of the scarab, with the help of Duck and Owl. But I went out without their permission and got in the way of the light."

"How did that happen? You're not an oyster, so… you shouldn't have been turned green, right?"

"I've been trying to figure that out. No one here has had oyster parents, and actually stayed here. I believe I'm the only one—" I stopped and looked away from her and at the grass. I didn't want to speak about this anymore. I didn't want to explain to her something I didn't even know for sure. All I knew was that I was born here, I'm not an oyster, and I have the tattoo.

"Mad March…" Those two words ripped my heart out. I heard myself whimper a little at the name, which caused me to hide my face a little more from her view. "He killed them didn't he." All I could do was sit there, with my eyes closed. I saw Mad March, and my parents in my mind. This is why I never told her about my whole past, it's because I knew it would feel this way. I knew it would hurt me. In the corner of my eye, I saw her stand up, and then I felt her sit next to me and wrap her arms around my neck. I sighed softly, closing my eyes and trying to forget about Mad March for a minute and just focus on Alice.

"Alice, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hu—" She pressed her finger lightly against my lips. "I know, it's alright, Hatter." With a small smile, I turned more towards her and wrapped my arms around her waist, holding her tightly to me. After a good five or ten minutes of holding each other, he laid back down and just looked up at the sky. It was silent, which was good, because I just wanted to take in this moment. I didn't know what would happen tomorrow, or the next day, but I knew I had her for tonight, and that's all I would focus on. I laced my fingers in with mine, slowly closing my eyes and feeling myself drift off to sleep. I wanted to wait until she fell asleep, so I could make sure she didn't leave, but I was exhausted from everything that happened earlier, and I just wanted to sleep.

I heard her say one more thing before I fell into a deep slumber. "I promise… I'll be here when you wake up."

Slowly, I opened my eyes, feeling my whole body aching. I groaned as I stretched my arms out over my head and scrunched up my face. With a soft yawn, I looked beside me, expecting to see Alice sleeping right next to me, but she wasn't there. At first I didn't panic, but when I looked over at Charlie on his hammock sleeping, I saw no sign of her. I bolted up from my spot I slept in and looked around, I saw that there was pulled up grass everywhere, and nail markings in the ground where she laid right next to me. My heart dropped when I finally realized that she hadn't run away on her own, and she didn't leave by her own free will. She was taken. My whole life seemed to be coming down all around me, starting with the one person who I loved most. I stood there for a minute or two, just thinking of all the possibilities, and everything I was about to go on. I knew I couldn't just go after her and try to get her back; the suits were surely kill me before I could do anything.

"No…" I said softly, the idea of never seeing Alice again sinking in. Quickly, I grabbed the gun from the ground and headed in towards the woods, but I felt someone grab me and turn me around. It was one of the volunteers, and one of my newer friends, Coop. Short for Cooper, obviously.

"Hatter, don't."

"Get off me, I need to get her!" Anger filled my veins now, not only anger, but remorse, sorrow. I felt feelings that no tea could ever give you. I believe Alice gave me a gift. A gift to have the feelings her oysters had. To fill my body with all these questions that can't be answered. Why did I feel this way? How could one person mean so much?

Coop never let my arms go, and he had a pretty good grasp on them. "Coop, let me go.." I closed my eyes, feeling the fury growing and forming into more than just frustration and anger. He declined again to let me go, and I couldn't hold back any longer. I swiftly pulled back my right fist and slammed it into the center of his face, which made me instantly let go of my arms and fall to the ground. I opened my eyes, seeing Coop on the ground in pain. I had smashed his face and now it was coated in nothing but blood. I paused for a moment before getting onto my knees and wiping the blood away from his face so I could see the damage I had done. I definitely had broken his nose, and gave him deep cuts, and that's exactly why people came over to help him. I got to my feet once they carried him off, and I started to head towards where the suits were all held up, that was until I felt a hand grab my arm again.

I turned around and aimed the gun to who was there. It was Charlie, looking back and forth from the gun to me. I lowered it after a second, realizing how ridiculous I was being. "She's gone… We'll find her. But this is not the way." It amazed me how not crazy Charlie had been acting lately. Sure, he still sang that song in his sleep, and when he was alone, but I was sure it was out of habit. He took the gun out of my hands and tried to catch me when I fell to my knees, but it was no use. Alice was gone, and the only memory we have of each other is being angry, and yelling.

A month had passed, and I was getting more and more insane. I wouldn't eat or drink, or talk really. I sat in on the meetings Charlie had about how we were going to take down the suits and get Alice out. He said we couldn't just up and go get her. We needed to wait until we could kill them all. A few times I tried to escape to get her, but when I broke through he perimeter, Charlie would send out a group to go and bring me back. He had to shackle me to one of the doors one night so I wouldn't leave, but after three weeks, I stopped trying and just listened to Charlie. Every night I would sit away from people, and alone, without any fire. I would just sit against a tree trunk and look up at the sky and imagine what Alice was doing. The pain never went away. I kept thinking of what they were doing to her, and if she was still alive. A few men gave good points about them keeping her alive as bait. I tried to believe that, but it was so hard. I felt like I was empty, like I wasn't myself anymore. I never really cried before, but now, I would basically cry myself to sleep almost every single night.

One day we went through the looking glass, and went to Alice's apartment.

"Hm…" Charlie spoke as he walked through the apartment, looking at all the different thing son tables and mantels and such. But I was headed towards her room, and I finally got there. Everything was untouched, and I saw that on her computer screen, was still the article about me. I slowly walked over to it and refreshed the page. A blank white page came up that said 'Page not found'. I was glad it was taken down, but I walked away from the computer now, and then my eyes landed on that one book. Alice's adventures in wonderland. I paused for a moment, not knowing what to do. It hurt me to be in this room and not with her and to know she was probably being tortured by the suits.

I walked over to the book and opened the cover without picking it up, and then I flipped through a few pages. Something caught my eyes and I moved the pages back a few and there I saw it. And how it broke my whole being. In a sentence, there was Mad Hatter. The Mad was crossed out, and Hatter was underlined. I furrowed my brows a bit, blinking my eyes a few times. She must've done this when she got back from Wonderland the first time. That was one trip I would not forget.

Charlie would sometimes come over and try and talk me out of this depression and tell me she wasn't gone, that she would still be alive when we got there. It never worked. This particular night was different. I sat around the fire with everyone who was enlisted to go to the suits hide out and fight them. We all sat in a circle, some talking about the plan, others just embracing the heat on this cold night.

Night turned into day, and everyone started to get ready. I put an extra gun tucked in the back of my trousers, and I had one in my hand. I would shoot anything and anyone that got in my way of getting Alice out. We headed out, and Charlie gave me Guinevere, so I would lead. He was still worried that I would do something drastic and get shot or killed by trying to get to Alice.

"Okay, most likely they have her locked up somewhere, so this is what's going to happen. Hatter—" Charlie turned towards me on his horse. "You'll be going in as a suit, make sure you don't get recognized." I doubted I would. I was wearing a black suit, and I didn't have my hat on. It was combed down in front of my face, instead of everywhere and messy and curly over my hat. "Don't just go in and ask where Alice is, just walk around a little while, don't draw attention to yourself. They'll probably have her in the room you were kept in." I nodded, leading the horse into a run and we were all off. It was about an hour before we finally got to the building, and I saw suits coming in and out. I slowly got off my horse and hid my main gun in my jacket as I walked along the edge and walking up the stairs. The suits looked at me, but didn't really pay attention to me. When I walked in, I saw everyone was busy, or maybe they were just walking around for no reason at all. I started to walk towards the room I was held in, then someone stopped me, and asked, "Are you the one looking after the girl today?"

I felt anger run through me, but I kept my cool and nodded. "Yes, I am." I changed me voice into an amaerican accent, though I don't think it was that successful, but he believed me. He then pointed in the room I was kept in when I was captured and nodded, handed me a key, then walked away and went about his day. This was it. Alice was behind that door, and after a month, I would be able to see her. Thoughts ran through my head about if she wouldn't love me, or she would be angry at me for not coming sooner. I would have, but Charlie wouldn't let me. I didn't have time to stand there and think about what if's. I quickly walked over to the room, unlocking it and slammed the door. When I turned around, I saw a woman under a blanket, her body softly moving up and down; breathing. I ran over to her and dropped to my knees, carefully pulling the blanket down. There, I saw Alice's face and I can't explain to you what I felt. I felt like I was just gutted, like someone just shot me a million times in the chest.

Alice's face was covered with bruises and cuts, and I noticed her hair was different. When I pulled the blanket down more, I saw that her hair was cut off. All of it. She only had a few inches now. Then her eyes slowly opened as she was waking up from her slumber, and I could see she didn't care. She just saw another suit. With a deep breath, I lifted my hair out of my face, and I could see her blue eyes widened. "Ha-hatter…" Her voice broke, and I could see her eyes well up with tears.

I nodded my head slowly at first, then faster; frantically. "Yes, Yes it's me."

When I confirmed that I was me, she sat up and threw her arms around my neck and clung to me. I closed my eyes and slowly wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer. Getting a hug from her was like going to heaven, like going into a house from the freezing cold. It was amazing, and I never wanted to let her go. "I thought you weren't coming back for me."

"I would never leave you here." I didn't want to admit it, but I felt like this was far from over, and I didn't have a lot of confidence that I would get out of here. I knew I would get her out, but I couldn't guarantee I would be with her.

"Tell me what happened."

"I saw you fell asleep, and I… put my arm around you and fell asleep as well, then something grabbed me in the middle of the night. I tried to scream, or hit or kick you to wake you up, but you were too fast asleep to wake up." I felt horrible. I was there when she was taken, and I had fallen asleep. I had let my guard down and she suffered the price. "They took me here, tied me up and demanded for me to tell them what the plan you all had made up was. They insisted I knew, and every time I denied I knew anything, they beat me." Tears filled my eyes, which made me look down. I couldn't let her see me weak like this or else she wouldn't trust me to get her out of here safely. It was hard knowing that she didn't know a thing about our plan, yet they thought she did, and every time she told the truth about not knowing, she was beaten.

I pointed to her hair. "They cut it. Said it was getting in the way of my face, and they…"

"They what, Alice."

"They said it was getting in the way of the pain on my face."

I clenched my fists, about to lose it. I think she was able to see this, as she rested her hand on my fist. "Hatter…" I shook my head and got up, taking my gun out and walking out of the room. I aimed my gun at one suit, and just as I was about to shoot, someone punched me right in the face and caused me to fall to the ground. I immediately let go of the gun and started to fight to get away from this suit. "Run Alice!" I yelled, looking over at her for a quick second before rolling on top of the suit and smashing his face in with my right fist a few times. Gun shots echoed throughout the whole building, and I laughed now, enjoying this. I got up off the man and grabbed Alice's wrist, running and turning and twisting throughout everyone. Charlie and everyone had come in and starting firing at them, fighting and whacking them with things. For some reason, my mood turned from depressed and horrified and aggravated, to… happy and energetic. That was all changed when I felt something grab my ankle and pull me to the ground. I looked down and saw a suit had gotten me. I tried to pull my ankle away, but I felt too exhausted to fight again. Quickly I looked back up at Alice, and it felt like everything went in slow motion.

Her eyes looked down at me, and I could see that all hope had left her and she didn't move. I exhaled slowly, looking over at Charlie. I nodded towards him, telling him to leave me and take her. That it was okay to leave me behind. He nodded back to me and ran over to Alice, grabbing her arms and pulling her away from me.

"NO!" She screamed bloody murder, trying to get back to me. Tears then flowed over my eyes, cascading down my cheeks. I reached out my hand, and she reached out hers. We both knew we wouldn't get to each other, but it was a matter of… love. You had to try. "Hatter! DON'T GIVE UP!"

"Alice…" I whispered, then I felt a prick in my arm and I looked down, seeing they injected me with something. I then felt myself sleeping away from consciousness. My head went light and I felt my heart slowing down. With all the strength I had, I looked back up and saw Alice being dragged away from Charlie. All sound was blanked out, and I just saw her screaming, and crying. Images started to get blurry now, and I felt my body relax on its own. My tears stopped, and so did my voice. I couldn't speak any longer. I saw Alice being turned around by Charlie, and then he looked back at me. He looked at me like I was his own son, and like he just saw his own flesh and blood die. I tried to get up now, but it was no use. I was out, and I finally lost consciousness. But that look I saw from Charlie, made me feel like I meant something. I felt like someone loved me, and cared for me, and it mattered if I got captured. It mattered if I was killed by these people. Owl and Duck were the only thing I had close to family, and now that Alice has come here, I have gotten so much more than I ever would've believed. No matter what she thinks, she's changed me. Forever. And if I die here, she needs to understand… she saved me.

Mad Hatter.

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**A/N: The ending, I tried to make really epic because I was listening to The Vision by xray dog, and I also just got done watching The Lovely bones, so I was really inspired to write something tragic, and I thought what could be more tragic than Hatter getting Alice back, then Alice losing Hatter.**

**Also, there may have been a lot of mistakes, probably because I listen to music while writing, and sometimes I add the lyrics randomly in a sentence? I don't know what that's about, but it sometimes happens. (: and I fail because I don't know how to strike out Mad in Mad Hatter. That really gets on my nerves, because now it's not as dramatic as I would've liked it to be, but I tried!  
**


	4. Author note

A/N: Okay, I'm not going to write a lot here, but a lot of people are saying it WAS great story, and it was a good ending. This is not completed yet! I still am working and writing it! So, just be patient on it. Chapter four is coming as soon as I finish a few chapters on my other story. Thank you guys for favouriting this and reviewing! And also, Hatter did not die! xD A lot of people have said this. NO. Hatter is alive, he just got.. tranquilized, so to speak.


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